New Delhi: The death of Flight Lieutenant Siddharth Yadav (28) has left not one, but two families shattered. He got engaged barely 10 days ago and the marriage was fixed for November 2, 2025.
Flt Lt Yadav was a brilliant fighter pilot, his seniors in the Indian Air Force (IAF) said. He was on a night training sortie when his Jaguar aircraft crashed near Gujarat’s Jamnagar on Wednesday. Prima facie, it seems that a technical malfunction was responsible for the crash.
Not much has been revealed by the IAF about the crash, save for the fact that it occurred soon after take-off and the pilots managed to prevent any damage to the runway or civilian property nearby. The other pilot in the aircraft managed to eject safely, but Flt Lt Yadav couldn’t.
His father Sushil Yadav, an IAF veteran, said that his son was killed while trying to save a life. This can only mean that he took control of the stricken aircraft at the last moment, giving his colleague that extra few seconds to initiate the ejection process. However, there was no time left for the valiant young man to escape.
The remains of the aircraft and Flt Lt Yadav’s body was found on the fields near the Suvarda village, about 12 km from Jamnagar.
Originally from Rewari in Haryana, Flt Lt Yadav’s great grandfather served in the Bengal Engineers during the Raj. His grandfather was in the paramilitary forces. A brilliant student, Flt Lt Yadav entered the National Defence Academy (NDA) in 2016. He was promoted in 2022.
“He had returned from leave a couple of days before the crash. That was when he got engaged to a girl from Delhi. Both families were looking forward to the marriage.
